NEWS
in registered pharmacy premises. This means that pharmacy professionals working in a hospital pharmacy which is not registered with the GPhC would be unable to use the new defence. The programme board has recognised this issue and is considering new regulatory arrangements for hospitals which will be discussed with stakeholders and followed by formal consultation.’
The Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK has also welcomed the launch of the Government’s Consultation into the Rebalancing Medicines Legislation & Pharmacy Regulation and sees the proposals as a positive step towards a modern approach to healthcare regulation.
APTUK recognises that the fear of criminal prosecution for a single dispensing error has long been a concern of pharmacists and now also for registered pharmacy technicians. Removing this barrier will help encourage a more open approach to error and near miss reporting and learning from these for the whole pharmacy team and ultimately patient safety.
Another proposal focuses on registered pharmacy premises and enabling an outcomes-led approach to the regulation of pharmacies, looking at the service to patients rather than measuring against narrow criteria.
Responding to the consultation launch, APTUK’s President, Tess Fenn, said, “APTUK are committed to the Rebalancing Medicines Legislation & Pharmacy Regulation Programmeand toensuring that the views of Pharmacy Technicians are represented.
“The rebalancing programme is about ensuring there is the right balance between Government legislation and professional regulation. Professional sanctions would be dealt with by the pharmacy regulators rather than by a criminal court. Pharmacy technicians, as regulated professionals, are important and integral to the pharmacy team, in optimising the use of medicines and supporting better health. This change will help pharmacy develop and expand its services to patients safely.
lead to criminal proceedings). Other changes will be enabled including changes which will allow the GPhC to publish inspection reports.
‘The work of the Programme Board on dispensing errors and registered pharmacy premises has been identified as a high priority and these proposals are both included in the current consultation. However there are a number of other areas of work which
are also underway and further proposals will follow. These include:
• Pharmacy owners, Superintendent Pharmacists and Responsible Pharmacists – proposals to clarify the roles, accountability and competence of pharmacy owners and superintendents, and the roles of Responsible Pharmacists
• Supervision – reviewing the medicines legislation and developing
new proposals to remove legislative barriers to the development of new models of pharmacy service whilst still ensuring patient and public safety.
• Hospital pharmacy - currently not all hospital pharmacies are registered pharmacies in the same way that community pharmacies are. One of the conditions of the new defence against criminal prosecution for dispensing errors is that the dispensing took place
“We have been part of the UK wide Rebalancing Programme Board and have been providing information to our members as the programme progressed and are now pleased to support the consultation. To provide further information, support and to answer any questions that pharmacy technicians may have about what this means, we are planning specific APTUK events but are also delighted to be part of the professional events, alongside the RPS and GPhC. We look forward to seeing and talking to many pharmacy technicians about the proposals and consultation questions.” •
SCOTTISH PHARMACIST - 11
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